Dancing Fire and Shaking Earth
by Melodic Inferno
Summary: "You have pretty eyes, you know." "Ha, I wish. There's nothing pretty about them, nothing pretty about the burns, nothing pretty about me. Don't lie to me, let alone yourself." "I'm not lying, to you, to myself, to anyone. You're beautiful to me."
1. Please, don't make me do it again

**A/N: Hello, peoples! For those of you who had been watching me via my Hunger Games story... I'm working on putting it up, but it won't happen any time soon. Sorry! For those of you who just opened this and have absolutely no idea of what I'm talking about, welcome to my story! I have no doubts a lot of you will be left with questions buzzing in your heads throughout the whole story. The only thing I ask is that you don't get mad if I don't answer them, 'cause I will most probably answer them all sooner or later.**

**So... As most writers, I ask you to read, review, and don't flame. All flames will fuel Sera's fire, and that girl does NOT need more fire power.**

**I feel like I'm forgetting something... Oh, yes! If you happen to stumble across CaskettFanGrl's story General Iroh's Academy in Avatar: The Last Airbender section of Cartoons, I suggest you read it. CFG is a good real life friend of mine, and I submitted a few of my OCs into her story that will be used. **

**Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING! Well, execpt Sera, Akira, their house, this plotline... You know, the usual stuff.**

* * *

_"Let me go! Let me go, let me go, LET ME GO!" the little six-year-old screamed, thrashing in her captor's arms. Her curly black hair was a mess, eyes squeezed shut as she fought as hard as she could._

_The man holding her chuckled darkly, giving her a hard shake before grabbing both arms and legs to keep her still. "Not likely, brat. You shouldn't be wandering around alone. After all, there are bad people looking to snatch you up at night."_

_Tears leaked from her eyes as the burns on her hands and feet were aggravated. "Let go of me, you big bullies!" She tried to turn and bite the man, but couldn't quite reach in the position she was in._

_A figure leaped from one of the surrounding buildings, landing in front of them. Though the darkness and shadows obscured the features of the person, the small size gave away the age. "Let. Her. Go," a young female voice ordered, firm and low._

_"And what's a little girl like you gonna do to make us?" the first girl's other captor questioned, laughing with his friends._

_None could see the vicious smile on her face, but they heard it in her voice. "This." There was the sound of metal whispering over sheaths, then the older girl was leaping through the grown men, all of them benders, leaving behind bleeding cuts from the two swords the wielded, and falling unconscious to the ground when she hit them with the pommel of one of the swords. Soon enough, the two girls were the only ones awake, and the older one sheathed her swords and hurried over to the younger one. "Are you alright?" she asked, suddenly sounding shy._

_Curly black hair shifted as the girl nodded quietly. Tears slipped from her still-closed eyes before she sniffed. After a couple of seconds, she slowly blinked them open, teardrops hanging on her lashes. What could have been a matching set of eyes was most definitely not, one eye a bright gold and the other a pale, almost white shade of gold. "Who... Who are you?" she whispered, shrinking in on herself._

_The older girl shoved her questions that bubbled to be asked forcibly down her throat. "My name's Akira. What's your name? What are you doing alone out here?"_

_"Seraphina, but I don't like my full name. I like Sera a lot more." After a second of silence, Sera blinked. "And... Mommy and Grammy told me to run. They said the bad people had found them, and that I had to get away." Her lower lip trembled as more tears streamed down her face. "I was almost on another street when I heard Mommy scream, and Grammy yelling at the bad people, and then the house exploded."_

_"Oh, you poor thing!" Akira exclaimed. She pulled Sera into a hug, then looked around at the gang around them. "We should go. C'mon, I'll take care of you. No one will ever hurt you or touch you again."_

* * *

_"Hey, you! Give me back that bread!" The black-haired eight year old took off at a run, weaving through the crowd as the angry baker stormed after him. He ducked into a shaded alley, hiding in the shadows as his pursuer disappeared, still looking for him._

_"There's an easier way to do that, y'know," came a voice from above his head. The boy started and glared up at the girl hanging upside down, dual swords securely sheathed at her hips._

_Glaring, he backed away and held tight to his prize, forming a flame over his open hand, ready to toss it if she dared come closer. "Oh yeah? And what would you know about stealing?" he sneered._

_Akira rolled her eyes, turning right-side-up on the beam she was on, laying down with her head on her arms and a leg on either side. "Way more than you do, kid. For instance, never steal from the baker unless he's with a customer. Otherwise you'll always be seen, and the bread will be watched for days after."_

_His jaw dropped. "Kid? Kid? You aren't older than I am!"_

_The brunette scrunched her nose and sniffed. "Hmph. I'm nine and a half. I know I'm older than you are. You're, what, seven? Seven and a half?"_

_"I'm eight," he shot at her._

_Rolling her eyes again, Akira shifted her position so she was more comfortable. "Big whoop. You obviously haven't been on the streets very long if you didn't know about the baker. I've been here since I was five."_

_Just as the boy was about to answer, an excited voice called from the corner of the alley, "Hey, Mako, guess what? I made a friend!" A smaller boy, thicker built and with green instead of amber eyes, emerged tugging a curly-haired girl behind him. The girl was protesting slightly, her voice pitched just a bit above normal to show she was panicked._

_Suddenly her head snapped up to where Akira was, a grin spreading over her features. "Kiki!" she exclaimed. Without thinking, she gathered herself up and jumped to latch onto the wall where a piece was missing, climbing up to the beam her friend was on. "Have you found food? What'd you get? Who's this? Is he a new friend? Did you actually make a new friend? Is he cute? How long has he been on the streets? Why is he holding bread? Do you have bread? Oooh! Did ya get any mooncake? I've been wanting mooncake for forever, please tell me you got some!"_

_While the two boys below blinked in confusion, the brunette began to answer her younger friend's questions easily. "Yes; a couple of sausage links; dunno, but apparently his name is Mako; no; no; wait, what? No!; a very short amount of time; he stole the bread, but did it at a time he could get caught; no; sorry, there was none today." Akira took a big breath and then raised an eyebrow at the two below. "Speaking of friends, who's this?"_

_"I'm -" the green eyed boy started, only for Sera to speak over him._

_"This is Bolin. I'm guessing that's his brother Mako beside him, too," she explained, pointing to each in turn, but slightly off. "Anyway, Bo's an earthbender! Can you believe it? It's not often that we get to meet earthbenders, but he's reeeeeeeeeeeeeally cool!"_

_"You're a firebender," Akira called down to the dumbfounded brothers. Mako gave a curt nod, his eyes narrowing to slits._

_"So what?" he demanded._

_Sera and Akira shared a glance before the older girl jumped down, bending her knees and rolling forward to make the landing easier. She caught the younger girl as she jumped as well, setting her small body slightly behind her and to the side. "Do you think you could help Sera with her firebending?"_

* * *

_"I can't! I can't do it, I'll never be able to do it!" Eight year old Sera plopped to the ground, removing her shoes and cradling her burnt hands to her body. Tears streamed down her face as she continued to yell. "Firebenders don't burn themselves! I'm not a proper firebender, something's wrong with me, I'll never be a proper firebender!"_

_Mako frowned, coming over and resting a hand on her shoulder. "If you say you can't, you can't. You just have to believe you can, and before you know it you'll be able to bend without burning yourself."_

_Sera glared at him, shrugging off his hand and standing up, wincing at the pain in her feet. She limped over to the pile of old blankets that was her bed, dropping down and turning her back to the world._

_"I don't know what's wrong," she heard Mako say later, when they probably thought she was asleep. "She's right in saying firebenders don't burn themselves, not even a baby would burn themselves. But I don't know what to do."_

_She heard Akira sigh, then sit down with her back to the alley wall to be face-to-face with the older brother. "She's always been like that. It took her months before she showed me her bending abilities, just a couple of sparks, and I've tried helping her as much as I can. But I'm not a firebender, I'm not even a bender. I'm just a non-bending girl who knows how to wield dual swords."_

_There was a beat of silence. "I can't teach her any more. We've been at this for nearly a year, and I can't stand to see her burns get worse and worse. She's like my little sister, and I won't be the cause of her pain."_

_Another sigh. "I guess it's for the best. What are we going to tell her?"_

_"She already knows," Bolin said, startling Sera. The seven year old earthbender was glaring at them, and when she sat up he pulled her into a hug as she cried silent tears. "You guys are mean. At least make sure she's asleep if you're going to talk about her like that."_

_"They've given up on me," she whispered into her younger friend's shoulder. With a sniff, she pulled herself from his arms and took off deeper into the alley, taking turns without even thinking of where she was going._

* * *

With a gasp, Sera abruptly stood up, scaring Akira who was meditating with her. "Please, don't make me do it again," she begged her friend. "I refuse to see their faces any more, especially after what we did to them." She watched as her friend stood from through her right eye, and her heat signature from her left eye. She was far from unused to this, as she had been born that way. The only thing she hated was when she went into crowds, because her left eye's 'sight' lagged just a bit from her right eye's.

"Alright," Akira said, putting her hand on the hilt of one of her swords. "But it's been nine years. You have to get over it sooner rather than later.

"I know, I know. I just... I just don't think I can stand seeing the looks on their faces. It's too painful." Groaning, she gingerly rubbed her temples. "And now I have a major headache. I'm going to go see if we have any tea left."

Akira stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "Hey. Are you alright? Something's been off about you lately, and -"

The touch made Sera freeze, and she unconsciously cradled her hands to her chest and shrugged it off. "I'm fine," she said tersely. "If you need me, I'll be nursing a headache. Don't you have to go to work or something?"

"I'll be back after work. Don't get into any trouble." Reluctance was in her movements as she placed her swords in their rack, then got into her work clothes. She left without another word.

Sighing, Sera banged her head on the table. "I hate lying to her," she said, voice muffled in the wood.


	2. Roku's Island Raven Eagles!

**A/N: So... I'm going to try and update this story daily. While I will try, I make no promises, especially since I'm going to be busy for the next two days getting ready for my church's summer camp, and then actually having the summer camp, where we are allowed NO electronics. After that I'm going to visit family up in Oklahoma for another week, and, while I could update, I have a feeling I'll be having too much fun to remember. But after that I'll update as daily as I can!**

**On that note, I might add that there will be some chapters so short you'll be wondering where's the rest; other chapters will be so long you'll be wondering when it'll end, and then other chapters will be perfect and you just enjoy reading. This is one of those short chapters, kind of a filler if I'm being honest.**

**If you happen to stumble across CaskettFanGrl's story General Iroh's Academy in the Avatar: The Last Airbender section of Cartoons, I suggest you read it. CFG is a good real life friend of mine, and I submitted a few of my OCs into her story that will be used. **

**Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING! Except for Sera, Akira, Valterra, Rayne, Roku's Island Raven Eagles, yada yada yada.**

* * *

"Valterra, you're late!" Sera's voice was harsh as the earthbender stepped into the gym to find her team leader waiting for her, arms crossed, with Rayne making a face in the background. Raising an eyebrow, the older girl said nothing, making her way over to where the discs were stacked up.

Rolling her eyes at the typical behavior, Sera slipped on her gloves and shoes. She took a few deep breaths with her eyes closed before focusing on the pictures of various competitors strung up. She punched a couple of fireballs at them, then did a quick series of sidekicks, round kicks, and ax kicks. When she stopped, not only were the pictures burned, but so was a good portion of the wall behind them.

"Issues with Akira?" Valterra asked, watching as Rayne put out the small leftover fires.

"No, but she isn't really around any more, what with her trying to support the both of us and the house," Sera sighed, rubbing her wrist from where the tail end of one of her kicks had grazed her. She held out her hand as Rayne came over and removed her gloves, eying the burns to see if any new ones had come. After assuring none had, she quickly healed the burn on her wrist, then motioned for her to take off her shoes.

"This new material is perfect, none of the heat has managed to come through. We'll have to find someone to make your uniform out of it, then someone to dye it the colors we need," the sixteen year old finally said, letting Sera stand up.

With a groan, the leader of the Raven Eagles began to clear the area so they could have a three-way battle. "Until then, I have to use the uniform I have now, don't I?" she asked, dreading the answer. She quickly pulled on her gloves and shoes again.

Instead of replying verbally, the other merely nodded as she took a ready stance, Valterra and Sera following her lead. Sera was the first to move, punching a fireball at Valterra, who retaliated by throwing an earth disc and dispersing it while kicking another to Rayne. The practice continued until all three were all but collapsing from exhaustion, but with satisfied looks on their faces.

"So," Sera said, laying on her back as they relaxed for their last few minutes they had booked. "If either of you have any doubts that Raven Eagles won't go out there and kick butt, speak now and be kicked out of the group or forever hold your peace." None of them spoke up, and Sera grinned, getting to her feet. "Good! Our first match is tomorrow night, get some sleep and have faith in your abilities! The first all-girl pro-bending team is ready to take control!"

Sticking out a hand, Sera waited for her teammates to do the same. "On three. One, two, three!" Valterra counted.

"Roku's Island Raven Eagles!"


	3. Burm 'em to ashes!

**A/N: I realize I missed yesterday's update... And I apologize. This chapter has my bad version of a pro-bending match! Enjoy!**

**If you happen to stumble across CaskettFanGrl's story General Iroh's Academy in the Avatar: The Last Airbender section of Cartoons, I suggest you read it. CFG is a good real life friend of mine, and I submitted a few of my OCs into her story that will be used. **

**Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING! Except for Sera, Akira, Valterra, Rayne, Roku's Island Raven Eagles, what Sera yells during matches, yada yada yada...**

* * *

"On the red side, ladies and gentlemen, we have the Ember Island Eel Hounds! They've had a rocky start, and hope to grab an easy win to help them on the way to the Pro-Bending Tournament preliminaries! Viggo looks ready to roll, knowing he's up against newcomers," the announcer began.

As they stepped onto the ring and up to their starting positions, the Eel Hounds shared looks. They knew that these newcomers could either be insanely strong or insanely weak. The whole team was hoping for the latter, even though Viggo was confident they could overcome whatever was thrown at them.

"On the blue side, we have the newcomers. Welcome, Roku's Island Raven Eagles!" Amidst the boos and cheers for them, the three girls tuned them out, focusing on their opponents. Their strategies ran through their heads even as they listened to what was going on around them. "... said that the Roku's Island Restoration Project, otherwise known as RIRP, has agreed to support these three with whatever they need, especially the Tournament payment, as long as they get a share in the winning gold."

Before they knew what was happening, the match had started. Their first strategy was to defend for a moment, get a feel for their opponents, before they went for the weak spots and beat them. "Formation Eagle, Katara versus Zuko!" Sera finally called out. She heard the announcer start commenting on what she was saying, but, to be honest, she couldn't care less.

Valterra was giving what sounded like a growling sound as she brought up disc after disc, either kicking or punching them to the opposing waterbender. She had trouble landing hits, but no trouble dodging his. Rayne only had to use three blasts of water for her firebending opponent to be sent to the second zone, nearly touching the third. The first hit his head, the second his feet, and the third his body, to knock him off balance and send him flying. Sera, however, was having slight difficulty. She could easily dodge the earth discs that Viggo sent flying to her, but the burns on her hands and feet from her fire kept on flaring up.

In desperation, she finally called out, "Burn 'em to ashes!" Changing attacks easily, Rayne helped her teammate throw out the waterbender into the water pit, then their attention turned firmly to the earthbender attacking Sera, while Sera was busy turning around the attacks of the firebender. They managed to knock both back a zone and move forward a zone at the green light, just as the time was up for round one.

"Sera? Sera, are you alright?" Rayne was on her captain in an instant, even though it looked like they were just talking strategy as Valterra joined them.

"We have to knock them out, I can't take the heat any more," she responded, carefully touching her palms together. She hissed in pain, then closed her eyes and forced herself to forget about it.

The two stared at her for a moment before nodding. "Alright," Valterra finally said as the knocked out waterbender finally joined the rest of his team. "Let's do this."

"Round two!" the announcer said.

"Burn 'em to ashes!" Sera repeated what she had said at the end of round one. They started attacking the waterbender again, knowing he was the weakest in this team, and sent him stumbling over the end of the arena again. All while attacking him, if their element of the opposite team sent something their way, they would disperse or redirect it. In this way, they managed to knock out the firebender of the Eel Hounds, before turning to Viggo. Knowing he was most likely going to lose, Viggo gave it his all anyway, frowning when Valterra broke apart each of his discs and sent one of her own his way.

It ended when all three of the Raven Eagles sent an attack in such a way that they hit the three main parts of his body. Valterra bounced a disc using the ropes along the edge to trip him, Rayne sent a short snake of water to his head, and Sera gave a sweep kick to his stomach. Viggo was spent flipping and spinning over the edge, and the girls shared a satisfied smile as the knock out was announced.

"And they've done it! Ladies and gentlemen, you are witness to the triumph of the Roku's Island Raven Eagles over the Ember Island Eel Hounds! Zaida, Livana, and Eyota will be back tomorrow to continue their fight for the championship!"


	4. Is that you?

**A/N: *Ducks Behind Desk* So, so, so, so, SO SORRY about not updating in forever! I lost my steam in this story, and then school started and I was - and still am - swamped in homework.**

**So, CFG adopted out General Iroh's Academy... I have no clue who has it now, or even if it has the same name, so if you see any characters of mine mentioned on another story, lemme know ASAP, 'kay? Although CFG (she changed her penname, so I'll call her Mystery now) has free use of 'em. (Yes, you read that right. JUST TELL ME IF YOU USE MY BABIES!)**

**On another note, Mystery helped me with this chapter. After Sera says she got grounded and given permission in twenty-three words - you'll see what I mean when you get to it - she took it up, with a few tweaks here and there from me.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned LoK or even ATLA, this whole thing would be canon. -_-**

* * *

"Alright. We've done it. We made it into the Tournament," here Rayne and Valterra shared victorious smirks and Sera ignored them, "and this last match can win us the right to choose our opponents for the first round. We're going up against the Fire Ferrets, the other newbies. Remember, the ones who joined up only a few hours after us and got the early morning practice times while we got the late night times?"

"Sera, calm down. We're going to be perfectly fine, I promise," Valterra said, laying a soothing hand on her captain's shoulder.

The firebender sighed. "I know that. I'm not stressing about that. I'm stressing because Akira almost caught me getting ready..."

Rayne flipped one of her ponytails behind her shoulder and tilted her head. "I don't get why you have to keep it a secret from her," she commented lightly.

"I have to keep it a secret because she doesn't like me bending. If ever ever found out that not only am I bending, but I'm the captain of a Pro-Bending team, she'd -"

"Be beyond ticked off and ready to cut you into ribbons?" a new voice suggested from the doorway. All three whirled around to see the subject of the conversation leaning against the frame, softly stroking the hilt of one of her swords, eyes narrowed with anger at the three of them,

"Something like that," Sera squeaked out, mismatched eyes wide and horrified. She took a few steps back as Akira advanced, murder and hurt flashing in her eyes.

Stopping when she was barred from continuing by the other two benders, the non-bender crossed her arms and settled for glaring. "You know, I really hate it when you lie to me, Sera. It makes me think that you don't trust me." Despite her harsh tone, the hurt was starting to be seen more than the murder/anger.

Fidgeting uncomfortably, Sera tried to find something to say... But really, how could she respond to that kind of accusation?

Sighing, Akira gave up on being angry. "I'm disappointed that you lied to me, and that you risk yourself like this." The firebender visibly deflated, while Rayne and Valterra shared sad looks. "However," all three perked up, "you do have people depending on you, and I know you don't quit when you get started on something." Leaning closer, the team waited anxiously for what she'd say next. "I'm not going to make you quit, but know you have a whole lot of chores waiting for you when you aren't practicing."

"But I have to sleep and eat then!" Sera protested.

"I guess you'll have to learn to eat while you sleep when you're done with the chores, aren't you?" Akira smirked, then turned and began to walk out of the training room. "Gotta go pay to see the show, see you guys later!"

"... What just happened?" Valterra finally asked, confused.

Sera shrugged as if it was nothing. "I was given permission to continue on the team and grounded in twenty-three words. Now come on, we have a match to win!"

* * *

Sera paced nervously in the Raven Eagles' box. "Alright, we don't even know who we're going up against.

Rayne looked up, bored fromher nail-picking, and said, "I heard Avatar Korra's the waterbender.

Making a sound like a muffled yelp, the firebender continued to pace when Toza barged into the box. "Okay, girls, you have 3 minutes." Now Valterra was worried, too. Rayne continued to pick at her nails.

Breathing in and out, Sera tried to remember her breathing exercises. She had nicked a firebending scroll from a stall at the market once. It said that breathing offers the most control over firebending.

A loud buzz sounded in the stadium, and the cheering escalated.

"This is it," Sera said, trying to sound confident, "the big one. Well, the first big one."

They assembled themselves on the platform and allowed it to take them to the ring. Shiro Shinobi was announcing things about Sera and someone named Mako, but she couldn't have cared less. This was a match they needed to win; she had to focus.

The loud buzz sounded again, and the match started.

"And off goes the firebender of the Raven Eagles, seems she's got a different approach to firebending than Mr. Cool Under Fire of the Fire Ferrets," boomed Shinobi. The part of her brain that wasn't trying to focus on the match mentally grumbled at Shinobi's comments. Apparently he had a hero-worship-thing towards Mako. Stupid bias.

Meanwhile, the Fire Ferrets were focusing just as hard. They sent flame after flame, disk after disk, until the flames danced and the earth itself seemed to shake.

"Raven One, Katara versus Katara, Toph versus Toph!" Sera shouted. Rayne went at Korra and Valterra Bolin. Sera took Mako for herself.

Shiro Shinobi made another snide comment on their names for attacks and continued to report the match. The Fire Ferrets were up by a round, but were losing juice. The Raven Eagles, however, were still full steam ahead.

* * *

It was the last round of a long and grueling match. Both teams had suffered losses, and both were tired.

Still, they were chugging forth. The crowd's shouts and jeers began to fade from Sera's mind. All the practice, all the burns, all the frustration, all of it had led up to this point. She was in a rhythm she'd never achieved before.

And she loved it.

The fire bent to her command like never before. Mako even looked a tad bit frightened at her prowess every now and then.

At the end of the day, however, Mako was still the better bender.

The match ended with a knockout. Sera, Valterra, and Rayne were all in the water pit. Rayne manipulated the water to gently push them to the platform, where they all stood up shaking, shivering, and wet. Sera called up another flame, but she did not feel the same elation as before. She only burned herself again.

They trudged - Valterra idly commented that she didn't know people could do that, but was promptly glared into silence by Rayne of all people - up to their box, throwing off their equipment in defeat. Sera could see across the stadium to the Fire Ferrets celebrating in their own box, masks off. Their waterbender was indeed Avatar Korra, and Mako had bright golden eyes. But the earthbender was concerned Sera the most. He seemed so familiar…

The earthbender - Bolin, wasn't it? How familiar - caught her eyes and waved. She didn't wave back. Bolin cocked his head and left the box, leaving a confused Korra and Mako in his wake.

All three girls sat down on the couch with their head in their hands.

"I'm really proud of you guys," said Sera, her voice breaking.

"Us too," said Valterra and Rayne in sad unison.

Bolin suddenly burst into the box. "Hi!" he said perkily.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be celebrating?" said Sera bitterly.

He waved his hand carelessly. "There's more time for that later. Besides, you look sad." He sat down across from her and got the shock of his life. "S-Sera? Is that you?"

"You've got to be kidding me," came two voices at the door, followed by a confused "Who?"


End file.
